November 2008

March 31, 2008

Lights out Denmark

I've been following the Danish campaign 'Sluk Lyset' (turn out the lights) with interest. The campaign has been running here in the weeks up to the event itself although I'm not sure how visible it has been to 'ordinary people'. (I don't count myself as ordinary as I have an unhealthy interest in advertising communication, so I'm probably looking harder that most)

Having been in and looked around the official site I see that 3,730 people registered there, but their Facebook group was far more impressive with 13,863 members! This says something about the efficiency of the Facebook format.

The campaign was headed by a burning panda which popped up in various places around town. They made some quite nice little projections and filmed them. They also stenciled some funky burning panda graphics around town for good measure.

I took a little drive through central Copenhagen on Saturday to check see how dark it was and whether Danes were entering into the spirit of it. (I know it's not really in the spirit of the event but I was on my way to pick up my son from a friends)

It wasn't that dark, I have to say. It seemed to me that largely, the event itself wasn't a huge success. People just didn't switch off.

So what are we left with? If people can't be bothered to join in for an hour, were does that leave us? Did this event do enough to raise awareness? Will it prompt the kind of changes we need to make to avoid catastrophic climate change? Well, it's a start. And it's good that someone is doing something but personally, I'm doubtful. Don't get me wrong, I really really really think it's great that something happened. I just want people to wake up and get a bit more angry about it.

Big changes. Now. That's what needs to happen. Maybe a bit of Alarmism would be a good thing?

Comments

I think you're missing (at least) a couple of important points in your quick "evaluation" of the campaign. Feel free to elaborate on the below list that isn't in any way ranked.

1. The negative attention. The last week the campaign met a lot of criticism that - in my opinion largely rightfully - questioned the actual impact of the black out.
One of the points being that if people lit candles in stead the CO2 emission would be eight times worse (please correct the number as I can't remember the exact figure - but it was something like that ...).
Another point being the good old: "what will it change that we do something when all the others don't?". That kind of argumentation is hopeless but someone out there nevertheless went to great lengths to point out how many countries, cities and people that did NOT parttake in the event.

2. The almost nauseous over-symbolic character of the event itself.
For better and for worse I see rejection (for lack of a better word) as a typical Danish reaction when something becomes "too much". The idea of turning off your electric lights for one hour might be great (and fantastic and brilliant and oh so right) from an international marketing point of view but I'd like to challenge the local relevance in Denmark. The event is simply too "catholic" in its nature and the first anti-authoritarian thought that springs to mind is not to do as you're told.
I even imagine this point of view would be more pronounced outside the capital area where people are less "hip" (read: more grounded). It'd be interesting to hear from people that experienced the event in some of the other Danish regions.

3. Common sense.
It can be - but might not necessarily be derived from my point 2 - but hey come on; We all know it'd make a lot more sense and have a lot more impact if we all swithced to energy saving light bulbs. And if council could get their shit together and fix the street lights outside my house so they aren't on 24/7. And if big companies would just remember to turn off the lights, computers, printers and so on at night. And so on, and so on ...

All said I welcome initiatives that can raise awareness about our wasteful way of living.
I just don't think the lights out idea is that brilliant. Really.

I remember feeling the same way about those huge rock concerts that happened last summer. It raised awareness for a week or so either side of the event itself and then what?

The way things are going to really change is when governments start getting involved - legislation etc. Breakthrough ideas like the Ken Livingson's congestion charge in London for example. (that was a radical idea at the time and now it's accepted) Why for example should it be okay for huge retail outlets to leave their lights on all night without huge green taxes being slapped on them? Why is it that restaurants can buy and fire up as many of those outdoor heaters as they want and have them blasting away all year round without being taxed somehow?

Ok, I'm starting to rant a little too much. Deep breaths.

Generally speaking, I agree with the idea of trying to create some sort of symbolic event that reminds people that they should be thinking more about their carbon usage. But in reality, I just don't think people will really make the kind of change needed unless they're forced to. It's a pity that poloticians have become so subservient and short-termist.

I'm not in any way against trying to raise awareness through events with a symbolic twist. I just feel most of the things going on lack a relevance and a "call to action" - to use marketing terms - for me and the rest of this world's Joe Publics.

To get the message through you need to get people involved and apart from the whip - legislation and so on - I truly think you need to give people a carrot. Something in return for their efforts.

OK, so turning off the lights will make some (but obviously too few otherwise we wouldn't have this discussion) people feel good or perhaps just self-righteous inside but it doesn't cause a sudden change in their everyday behavior. Noone turned off the lights the following Saturday, right?

The carrot need not necessarily be a physical thing or money saved or what have we but since we are in the rather early stages of re-educating the world about responsible behavior perhaps we need to look at all the easy wins first.